Just a note on the specs. The metric works out to about .004" - .007" for intake and .009" - .012" for exhaust. I find that my intake valves never need adjustment and my exhaust tend to tighten up. I have a had some degree of luck swapping shims around but I have bought a few from the dealer as well...as I have to do today. This time I am setting all of the exhaust valves on the .012" end of the spectrum....figuring they will be a bit safer on the loose side.

As for putting the engine on TDC I don't think this is totaly necesary. I just rotate the cams until the lobes are pointing straight up then I measure the clearance and make notes. I then align the cams so they are not putting any pressure on the lifter buckets and I use a permanent marker or paint pen to mark the cam position. I remove the bridge and measure the shim thickness on the out of spec valves. I reassemble with my marks and go from there. After adjusting the valves 3 or 4 times in the last 18,000 miles I have not had a problem.

__________________
Seth S

My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of good judgement. Just installed my new trolling motor

Where can i get a service manual? Local dealer can't get info from KTM. (New seller )

PM me and I'll give you directions to the info you are looking for.

__________________
-cp

DISCLAIMER: All observations made in this post are mine and based solely on my own anecdotal experiences, and may contain large doses of facetiousness. YMMV, of course. You are "on your own", and I take no responsibility if someone tries anything in this post and gets into trouble with the law, damages their person or property, or goes blind. Take everything you read or hear "anywhere" butt especially on the Web with a large dose of salt.

I did some research on the hotcams shims. they cost $35 a for a box of 30 shims spanning about 2.5 mm. Here is a list I made up with the Hotcams part number and the metric and standard range they cover in shim thickness:

a 9.48mm diam shim works out to .3732" diam vs the stock KTM shim which is 10mm in diameter. The .25mm difference per side should be fairly negligable with how the shim locates under the bucket and as posted above these should be a good alternative to the pricey KTM shims which run in the $3.50 to $5.00 per shim.

are you refering to the hotcams shims or KTM? Hot cams sells them under 2.3. There may be some spec for when to replace the valve though...something I'd check with KTM. The valves stretch over time and perhaps there is a certain minimum shim thickness allowed before a valve is considered too stretched.

__________________
Seth S

My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of good judgement. Just installed my new trolling motor

At what interval's are these shims and the original shim's available?
I just did my valves, first adjustment now on 28000!! but only had .05 interval's to choose from! so now it's all around 0.30 exhoust and 0.15 intake. Would rather have been able to adjust to exactly .29 and .14

I checked my valves at 8K miles and replaced 3 shims. The bike now has a bit over 20K, so it's due for another check. I'm wondering how good the clearances hold over time. Guess I'll find out when I open the bike up.

IIRK, it was a 14mm nut. Either way, its one of the two sizes that come on the adapter. This was the only tool, besides a standard torque wrench and socket, that I needed to torque all of the nuts.
-cp

To re-torque these head nuts, do you just put the wrench on them as is with the proper torque setting, or is it necessary to loosten them slightly first, oil them, or anything?

Mac

__________________
05.5 KTM 950 S

"Plans are deliberately indefinite, more to travel than to arrive anywhere." Robert M. Pirsig

To re-torque these head nuts, do you just put the wrench on them as is with the proper torque setting, or is it necessary to loosten them slightly first, oil them, or anything?

Mac

I remove them one at a time. Lube threads and washers (ARP), then torque to 25 nm. I repeat for all the nuts, working diagonally, until all are done. I then do a final torque to 38 nm. The important thing with the adapter is to keep it at a right angle (90 degrees) to the torque wrench handle. Then no conversion needs to be performed on the torque specs. Only takes about 1/2 hour, once in there doing the valve clearance checks.

__________________
-cp

DISCLAIMER: All observations made in this post are mine and based solely on my own anecdotal experiences, and may contain large doses of facetiousness. YMMV, of course. You are "on your own", and I take no responsibility if someone tries anything in this post and gets into trouble with the law, damages their person or property, or goes blind. Take everything you read or hear "anywhere" butt especially on the Web with a large dose of salt.

I’ve just adjusted valves (actually they were almost OK after 25000km).
I would like to add here a trick that I found for myself, and it was confirmed by two of my friends (mechanics), but I’ve never read about that in manuals.
So, after you have changed/sanded shims and re-torqued cam bridge, rotate engine a couple of turns. This will give you much more correct clearence numbers.

I took a picture of the cam positions before removal rather than marking them, primarily because I didn't have a reliable way of marking them, but also because there's no reason referring to the picture wouldn't guarantee getting them back in the same position.

Long story . . . pic got blitzed.

Is there a way to guarantee the cams are back in the correct position? I've got them where the lobes are oriented exactly 180o from each other, pointed "out," per the manual pages posted here, but I'm not quite positive that's where they were.

Just make sure you are at top dead center on the compression stroke for the cylinder you are doing, then check that the marks on the cams line up as it says in the manual. If you need the manual, PM me and I'll let you borrow mine to get your bike running.

__________________
-cp

DISCLAIMER: All observations made in this post are mine and based solely on my own anecdotal experiences, and may contain large doses of facetiousness. YMMV, of course. You are "on your own", and I take no responsibility if someone tries anything in this post and gets into trouble with the law, damages their person or property, or goes blind. Take everything you read or hear "anywhere" butt especially on the Web with a large dose of salt.